Article excerpt

The House has temporarily thwarted funding for its
investigation into allegations of campaign fund-raising abuses.

And FBI Director Louis Freeh confirmed that a grand jury is
investigating whether a foreign country tried to influence last
year's elections.

The 213-210 procedural vote Thursday prevented the House from
taking up the Government Reform and Oversight Committee's proposed
investigation budget of $3.8 million. Eleven GOP members who
objected to raising overall spending on House committees by $22
million joined Democrats in blocking the vote.
But the rebellion was quelled at an evening caucus, when
Republicans agreed on a plan to clear the way for a vote today to
finance the inquiry, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.
Under the plan, the campaign finance investigation would get
its money while spending for other House committees would be frozen
for 30 days, said freshman Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., one of the
original defectors. The House would vote next month on the funding
for the other committees.
Salmon cited frustration with plans by Gingrich to postpone
action on tax cuts until a balanced budget agreement was reached
with Democrats as an "underlying problem with virtually all of the
11" Republicans who voted no Thursday.
The procedural vote in the House forced a delay in action on a
$178 million spending measure to finance the work of 19 House
committees.
Before the compromise was reached, the vote was the second
setback for congressional Republicans seeking to begin
investigations into allegations of campaign fund-raising abuses
last year. …